David Melius has been named the Sugar Bowl Committee's President for the 2010-11 year. A native New Orleanian, Melius is the 53rd president of the organization.

Since joining the Sugar Bowl Committee in 1995, Melius has been involved with numerous committees. He has served as the chairman of the team liaison committee as well as the entertainment committee for four years, including during the 2004 National Championship year which featured LSU defeating Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

"After serving as a member of this wonderful organization for the past 14 years, I am very excited for the opportunity to serve as the President of the Allstate Sugar Bowl," Melius said. "I am very much looking forward to working with my fellow committee members and our professional staff to continue the tradition of excellence we have built over the last 75-plus years."

Melius succeeds Richard R. Smith, who directed the organization through the 2009 year as well as the Jan. 1, 2010 Allstate Sugar Bowl Classic between Florida and Cincinnati. He will serve with Lance Africk, President-Elect; Jack Laborde, Vice-President; John A. "Jay" Batt, Jr., Treasurer; and Dennis J. Waldron, Secretary. The Sugar Bowl's 51st President, Ronnie Burns, was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee. John R. Busenlener, Lloyd N. Frischhertz, and Dr. J. Lee Moss were elected to the Executive Committee.

A graduate of St. Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie, Melius attended Texas A&M and LSU before opening a bar and restaurant in the French Quarter in 1974. In 1983, he bought Bruno's Tavern, a popular uptown establishment which has been in business since 1934, and oversaw a move to its original location, a much larger establishment, in 2006. He and his wife Selby have two children: daughter Ashley, also a member of the Sugar Bowl Committee, and son Barth.

In addition to his time with the Sugar Bowl, Melius has been involved with the Carrollton Booster Club and St. Martin's Alumni organizations.

The Sugar Bowl Committee was founded as the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association in 1934 for the purpose of promoting amateur sporting events that would stimulate tourism and have a positive economic effect on the New Orleans metropolitan area. The 2010 game is estimated to have had an economic impact of over $150 million while the Sugar Bowl has brought over one billion dollars of economic stimulus to the region over the past decade.